12.01.09

Ukraine has no technical capabilities to halt the receipt of Russian gas flowing to Ukraine, according to Ukraine's presidential energy security envoy Bohdan Sokolovsky.

Sokolovsky made this statement in Vienna on Wednesday, during talks with the Austrian federal chancellor's foreign policy advisor Bernhardt Wrabetz, Secretary General of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs Johannes Kirle and Deputy Economics Minister Alfred Meyer, the Ukrainian presidential press service reported.

"Sokolovskiy said that Ukraine has no technical capabilities to halt the receipt of Russian gas, since all gas-metering stations through which gas comes to Ukraine are located in Russia and are Russia's property," the press service said.

The Austrian officials in turn spoke of serious cuts in Russian gas shipments across Ukraine, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "It was noted during the talks that Austria has taken information provided by the Ukrainian sides with understanding. Austria has a positive opinion of the steps made by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian government and the national company Naftogaz Ukrainy, to deal with the problem," it said.

Naftogaz Ukrainy has no contract for the delivery of imported gas for 2009, as it has not accepted the price offered by Gazprom, earlier reports said. Talks on gas shipments had continued until the end of 2008 and were cut short late on December 31.

In the absence of a contract, Gazprom halted gas shipments to Ukraine on January 1 2009. The Russian monopoly deems illegal Ukraine's alleged practice of diverting part of the gas intended for transit for what it says technical purposes to guarantee transportation.

Gazprom ordered a halt to shipments of Russian transit gas to Ukraine after it was allegedly established on January 7 that even though Russian gas shipments continued to Ukraine via the Sudzha gas-metering station, gas was not sent further to Europe from Ukraine.

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Source: Interfax